This Weakness For You (Entangled Select Otherworld) (Taming the Pack) (14 page)

It was one thing for Jordan to be Alpha—hell, he’d be Alpha in her world, too. She wasn’t. Mexico was nice this time of year. If only she could drag Jordan there with her, away from this crazy, messed-up world where she was the new queen of the werewolves.

She pushed through the rest of her shopping, and apparently, she’d already met the shopping wolf clan population, because everyone else just gave her suspicious looks when she purposefully met their gaze.

After she’d packed everything in her car, she called Dane.

“Hey, fallen one,” he said.

“Dane, everyone kept bowing their head and avoiding eye contact in the grocery store. Apparently, since I’m with Jordan, I’m some special alpha chick.”

Dane laughed.
Jerk.
“Yeah, I’m trying to get used to that too. I’m thinking people at work will notice, so hopefully, Jordan gets back before I head back. As it is, I’m glad the…uhh…other people who work for the Forest Service are gone. Well, I’m glad one is gone. I sort of shot the other one.”

“What?”

“Nothing. So, you made it out of the house, huh? Good for you. I mean, heartbreaking for old guys everywhere, but good for you.”

“That’s another thing. This guy named Ethan called me Ms. Hill.”

“Ethan lacks a filter—which helps because, when I met Vanessa, I asked him all kinds of questions that no one else would answer.”

“Dane! He called me Ms. Hill!”

“I told you that you were as good as married.”

“You said as good as…not married. This is totally weird.”

He sighed. “Where are you?”

“In the parking lot of the grocery store.”

“Then you need to keep your voice down. Lycans have amazing hearing, and their ways of living and interacting are
in
them, buried deep in their psyche. Deference is instinctual. Vanessa says she’s fighting being submissive to me—which I find amusing, but she doesn’t really.”

Christa sighed and fell back against the seat. “I’m on day three of finding out that there is a whole different world inside my world. I think I’m allowed a little culture shock.”

“Yes, but watch what you say. Insubordination, weakness, and disrespect will affect how they see Jordan.
And
while this isn’t a volatile bunch anymore, and apparently, the only challenge for Alpha is me, he still needs their support. He still needs your support. You
wanted
this.”

She pulled back the phone to glare at it, but hadn’t Ethan more or less said the same thing? “I still want Jordan. I just didn’t know what all came along with him.”
And what was expected of me.

“You want the human—you accept the wolf. You want your mate—you become pack. Jordan once told me, and don’t tell him that I’m quoting him, he once said I was acting like a part of Vanessa’s life wasn’t worthy of me, but it was that same part of her which made her want to give her life for mine. It made me realize that I was seeing those two parts as separate, but in Vanessa they were one and the same. Jordan is Lycan—he’s like king of the Lycans. He’s more Lycan than my wife. If you want Jordan, then you want to accept his world…and sooner rather than later, because I suspect there’s less of a learning curve allowed to an alpha female.”

She lowered her voice after glancing around. “But Dane, I’m
not
an alpha female.”

“Yes, you are—because Jordan chose you.”

Well, the scent-match did—and two shoes and a lamp. Jordan might not have wanted anything to do with her if not for that. He had given her reasons last night for her to forget fleeing to Mexico, and that sounded like more than the scent-match at work. He wanted her to
stay
—even if she’d had to force him to keep her in the first place. That had to mean something.

Dane cleared his throat. “But don’t get any ideas, because it’ll be a cold day in hell before I bow to you.”

She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I’ll just ask Jordan to make you. That worked with Mom for years. ‘Mom, make Dane give me back my dolls.’”

He laughed. “I never took your dolls. Have a good day, Squeaky. Let me know if you get lost or need to be rescued.”

She made it back to Jordan’s without a single wrong turn. Hah! She could do this. When she got out of the car, she muttered, “I am Alpha! Hear me roar!”

And then she tripped on a rock and had to do some major acrobatic moves to avoid smearing herself across the ground.

Hopefully no one saw that.

Chapter Nine

“You look better,” Travis said as they sat in front of the computer.

It was hard to say which was more restorative, sleeping for a few hours or talking to Christa, but he was leaning toward the brief conversation with his mate. “I feel better.” He leaned forward and pointed at an area on the map. “This is where I found the blood, but like I said, there was a trail that wound all over.”

“Maybe it was an actual wolf’s prints you saw,” Travis said. “We have a pack living here, but they mostly stay out of our way. Though Alanna says their Alpha has made overtures toward her. He left a kill on her doorstep.”

“So, you’re in contest with an actual furry, and so far, he’s made some headway, is what you’re saying?”

Travis just grinned. “Anyway, I’ve gone over the last five days of check-ins for our pack and none of them were in that area. We don’t patrol it because you have to go through areas we do monitor to get there.” He glanced at Jordan. “You couldn’t recognize the scent?”

He shook his head. “I don’t spend day in and day out breathing their scents. In fact, I don’t know most of the females, but the strongest scent—the scent that overrode anything else—was Colby’s blood…and death.”

“Maybe I should get everyone together so you can compare—and sniff a bunch of our females.”

Jordan stared at the screen. There was really no help for it. It made sense, but it felt wrong now. “Maybe we should get them together and ask them to leave an article of clothing with me—for comparison.” He really didn’t want to commit to memory a bunch of different female Lycan scents. If he closed his eyes, he could bring to mind Christa’s scent immediately, and he liked it that way. He’d gone to sleep with that scent on his mind and actually been able to sleep. Sniffing any other females sounded…vile.

Travis shook his head and leaned back in the computer chair. “Unbelievable. This is what the scent-match does? You’ve got no desire to meet the female pack members? One of them is even in heat.”

Jordan barely restrained a shudder. Last spring had been much easier when all the attached females had gone into heat around him, and he hadn’t felt any drive to choose someone to procreate with. Now he prayed that drive was gone, because
he
was no longer available. With any luck, Alanna had spread word that he wasn’t looking for an alpha female. “No, I really don’t. I know a few of them, but I think you’ve got a lot more that I don’t know.”

“Yeah, they just showed up when word spread that this pack was all unmated. I keep expecting some of them to start pairing off, but the females are treating each fertile cycle like it’s a round of
The Bachelorette
where no one wins. Maybe this spring will change that…I hope it will, or I really will drag your brother here.”

“When does Alanna go into heat?” As soon as he said it, it struck him that this was a strange conversation to have from Christa’s perspective. Humans didn’t place nearly as much emphasis on procreation, and they weren’t as aware of the fertility cycles of their females. Well, they blamed a lot on fertility cycles, but they didn’t seem to reap the benefits. Christa even seemed ashamed to be talking about it.

Travis didn’t even pause. “She’s late. Late March. I think that’s part of what has given her an Alpha streak. She’s the last to go into heat, and it keeps the males hoping if they stay unattached…”

“So really, you’d be doing the pack some good if you took her as Alpha.”

Travis nodded with a slow smile. “Yup. And the good of the pack comes first.”

“Call a meeting—everyone brings something from yesterday’s clothing in a labeled bag, and we’ll compare before they leave. You can tell them I need to rule out their scents while I’m tracking so I’m not wasting my time.”

Leaning forward, Travis clicked open an email window. “Okay, but I’m still hoping this is a waste of my time.”

…

Christa put Nathanial’s head up to her nose and inhaled. She might not have a great sense of smell, but enjoying the sweet scent of a baby wasn’t lost on the non-furry. “How are Lycans made?” she asked Vanessa.

Vanessa kept drifting off to sleep while they were talking, but she smiled at this. “Well, Christa, when a mommy Lycan and a daddy Lycan like each other a whole lot…”

“So, it takes two Lycans?” She’d guessed otherwise from what Jordan had said.

“Nope, it just takes a bit of Lycan genetics and a couple of two-leggeds getting funky. Lycans pop up randomly in families where they didn’t even know they had Lycans way back in their ancestry.”

“But two Lycans always reproduce Lycans?” Maybe Jordan would have more luck contributing to the pack if he’d picked someone else.

“No. Well…maybe…if any of us had pure Lycan blood, but none of us do; there are generally a few humans in the litter. Jordan was the only Lycan in the pack born to two Lycan parents. His siblings aren’t Lycans.”

“Is that why they don’t get along?”

“Jordan and his brothers?” Vanessa frowned. “I think it’s that, and they’re all a little too much alike. Hardheaded. Secretive. Arrogant. I haven’t met the one that’s married, but the other two—well, I wanted to punch them within seconds. I think if they’d stop this endless pissing match long enough to notice what they have in common…but they won’t.”

“Is it going to make it worse that I’m human?”

The frown dropped from her face. “No, actually, that might help.”

It was almost a relief she hadn’t joined an entirely Lycan family if they were all like Jordan. And if she could somehow help heal his relationship with his brothers…

Christa kissed Nathanial’s forehead just as the baby went to sleep. “Is he a Lycan?”

Vanessa peeked her eyes open and then sat bolt upright, her jaw dropping. “No way! He went to sleep for you?”

Nathanial jerked in her arms, and his eyes fluttered, but he only snuggled deeper against her.

“I’m tempted to pinch him just to wake him up,” Vanessa muttered.

Christa raised her eyebrows. Seriously, her sister-in-law needed more sleep if she thought
that
was a good idea.

“I won’t. Still, that’s not fair.”

“So,
is
he a Lycan?” Christa asked again.

“Oh, I don’t know. We won’t know until he hits puberty and changes or doesn’t change. His lack of respect toward his parents seems to imply otherwise, but that might just be his age.”

“Lycans respect their parents?”

“They show deference at a young age toward those they recognize as Alphas. So it’s also possible he just doesn’t recognize my authority.” Vanessa yawned so wide Christa could swear she saw the inside of Vanessa’s stomach. “He’s lucky he’s so cute.”

“Oh, like we could make an ugly baby,” Dane said, walking in. He was strapping a gun on his hip.

“Mmm” was his wife’s response…just before her mouth dropped open and she started snoring—loudly.

Christa looked from the baby to his mother—who could wake the dead with her snoring.

“He’s used to it. He got nine months of that,” Dane said, nodding at his wife. “I’ll go drop her in bed and close the door. Can you stick around with Nathanial? I’ve got to meet with some of the pack to discuss patrol routes.”

She nodded and was very grateful when he lifted Vanessa up to carry her to bed. Seriously, no one should be able to snore that loud. Vanessa couldn’t
shout
that loud—how could she snore at that volume?

Vanessa’s snoring stopped, and she opened her eyes.

Dane grinned down at her. “It’s like how we met all over again.”

“No cages this time,” Vanessa said, and then the snoring resumed.

“Cages?” Christa asked when he walked back in. Their “how we met” story had always been a bit vague but their…affection for each other made you forget all the vague things they said—until you found out Vanessa was a wolf.

“I’ll tell you when you’re older. When I get back, I’m hoping you’ll have taught Nathanial how to walk or I’ll consider you a failure.”

“Yeah, I’m Alpha—your opinion means nothing to me.”

“I swear Vanessa said the same thing when I told her it was her turn to change his diaper.” He patted her on the head like she was five. “Oh, hey, I ordered you something—had it overnighted.” He went to the counter and grabbed a box.

“You bought me a present?”

“It’s like a wedding present.” He pulled a red coat out of the box with a flourish.

Her heart had jumped a bit at the word “wedding.” That was so unreal it felt like a hoax. Maybe it was—she still needed to talk about that with Jordan. “A red coat?”

“It’s a cloak—with a
hood
.”

It was the word “hood” that clinched it. Little Red Riding Hood.

He set it beside her with a grin, knowing that she would have punched him if she wasn’t holding his son. “Watch out for the Big Bad Wolf,” he said as he backed out of the house, smiling.

“Idiot.” She waited until he’d driven off to take a closer look at the cloak. The lining was soft and the tag said it was “water-resistant.” She was due for a new coat, and this one really was gorgeous. Also, the fact of the matter was that she wanted to see a whole lot more of the Big Bad Wolf, and he’d certainly be able to see her well in that. She could even get away with wearing nothing on underneath it. Hmm. Jordan
wanted
her. Maybe it was time to find out how much. Especially when the scent-match wasn’t muddying things.

“Your daddy’s joke totally backfired,” she whispered to Nathanial before kissing his head again.

…

Two hours later, Jordan and Travis were in a lodge that the pack had bought, and it was like a singles bar meet-up. Lycans were chatting and flirting, and the cacophony of scents from varying levels of attraction was as eye-watering as a perfume counter. The female in heat, Merilee, was holding court over in one corner. He was relieved her scent hadn’t interested him at all, nor had any of the other females’ scents. But it was strange to see such a polarity to his current pack.

In the fallout of the murders in his pack, he’d heard rumors that several of the single males thought they could have handled it better. After Travis had been offered a job as sheriff over here, Jordan had suggested taking anyone interested in forming a new pack with him. The first three who had jumped on it—Troy, Sean, and Liam—had been a relief. Then Ross, a former coworker of Dane’s, had surprisingly volunteered—he’d have sworn Ross was content in Glacier pack. After the single males had announced their intentions, some of the unattached females had mentioned it would be nice to be near a big city, and that was the impetus for a mass migration.

If he hadn’t been so relieved, Jordan might have felt like rats were abandoning a sinking ship. As it was, he’d enjoyed the quiet without all the posturing of the younger males, and it would have been pretty damn awkward if he’d ignored all of the single females when they went into heat in the spring.

As he watched them now, though, it seemed…exhausting. He would have been fighting to retain Alpha for years, and he might have given in to pressure from his libido and his pack and had one of these females by his side as alpha female when he met Christa. Helluva nightmare there. It was unusual enough to have a human as female Alpha, but tossing out a Lycan alpha female for a human… He wouldn’t have lasted as Alpha, and while that shouldn’t bother him, it did. He’d been Alpha for over a decade—it was in his blood.

He’d had a narrow, narrow escape, and no, he definitely didn’t want to run around sniffing females, but he should fall to the ground and kiss Travis’s feet for taking this hell off his hands. Instead, Jordan just stood there, shaking his head, before turning to Travis.

“Did anyone not come or report in?”

“Troy. He’s working as an EMT here, too. He couldn’t get off, but he said he’d drop off his clothes when he could. Then also, Ross—he’s down with some sort of sickness. Cory saw him yesterday and said he looked like death, and we should probably stay away from him.”

“Ross checked in, though?”

“He sent me a text, and his tag shows him at his house. Troy’s shows him in the area he works.”

“You’re sure it was Ross sending the text, and we don’t need to send someone over to verify he only
looks
like death?”

Travis nodded. “I thought of that. I asked him something odd, something only he would know, and he responded. We’re still looking at a single fatality.” His gaze took in the whole room—which was so loud and boisterous they couldn’t hear him whisper, “If they’re here, we’re dealing with a real sociopath, Jordan.”

“Feels like old times.”

“I’ll call it to order.”

“Let the games begin.”

An hour and a half later, he was more exhausted than when he’d finished sprinting at dawn. Alanna hadn’t told the others that he was no longer available, but he’d finally told the third female who’d met his eyes and stood too close. “I’m matched, and you will respect my mate’s claim on me and step back.” It had spread quickly—as had Travis’s smile. Jordan found himself hoping Travis would scent-match also.

Troy arrived as the others were starting to disperse. There was some rabid hostility in the younger male’s eyes. Distance and time hadn’t solved that problem. Ignoring his lack of deference to an Alpha—even an Alpha from a different pack—Jordan took Troy’s bag of clothing without checking his scent. He didn’t need to—he was almost too familiar with his scent. Troy went to Merilee’s side and left when she did.

Troy had always been a little too cocky of his abilities; he liked to test fences and challenge Jordan’s ability to track. The younger Lycan would borrow things and “accidentally” leave them places. Then he’d say, “Well, you’re the great tracker—go find it.” Jordan always did, which had just served to piss off Troy more. If Troy hadn’t left Glacier pack, he was one act of insubordination from his life being forfeit.